Jazz trumpeter Gene Williams, 54, who recorded with Duke...

November 7, 1985

NEW YORK — Jazz trumpeter Gene Williams, 54, who recorded with Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and other leading musicians, died Monday of cancer at his home in Jamaica, Queens.

Williams played four years with the U.S. Air Force band, then launched his professional career with Hampton's band in 1956. In the 1960s, he played and recorded with Ellington, Yusef Lateef, Charlie Mingus, Quincy Jones, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight and Melba Moore.